A vibrant new shopping mall in eastern Iraq turned deadly when a fire swept through it, claiming 61 lives and leaving a grieving community searching for answers about a preventable tragedy.
On the night of July 16, 2025, a catastrophic fire erupted in the recently opened City Plaza mall in Kut, Iraq. The five-story complex, open just five days, became a death trap, killing at least 61 people and injuring or leaving dozens missing, according to Iraq’s Interior Ministry. The cause, possibly linked to an air conditioning unit explosion, remains under investigation as rescue efforts continue.
The ministry’s statement revealed, “The fire took 61 lives, with most victims suffocating in restrooms; 14 bodies, burned beyond recognition, await identification.” Firefighters rescued over 45 people trapped in the choking smoke and flames.
The blaze started on the ground floor, rapidly consuming the mall, which housed shops, a supermarket, and a restaurant. Dr. Hassan al-Jabiri, a local, lost five family members. He told reporters, “We went to the mall for dinner, to enjoy the new place and escape power outages. An AC unit exploded on the second floor, and the fire spread so fast we couldn’t get out. It’s a nightmare.”
Residents are grappling with loss. Omar Faisal, a Kut local, identified two relatives’ bodies, one a mall employee of just three days. Waiting outside the coroner’s office for news of another, he said, “There were no sprinklers or fire systems. That’s why it spread so fast.”
Another resident, Khalid Rahim, scoured hospitals and the mall’s ruins for his brother, sister-in-law, and their three kids, all missing. “We have no idea where they are,” he said, voice breaking.
Prime Minister Mustafa al-Hakim expressed condolences and demanded a thorough probe into the fire’s cause and safety failures, vowing “strict measures to ensure this never happens again.” Interior Minister Salman al-Jumaili echoed this, ordering a high-level investigation by experts to examine safety lapses and emergency response, promising “no tolerance for negligence” and full transparency.
Wasit Governor Jamal al-Tamimi declared three days of mourning in Kut’s region and vowed legal action against the mall’s owner and contractors. The tragedy follows similar fires in Iraq, like a 2023 blaze in Nineveh that killed over 100 and a 2021 fire in Nasiriyah claiming 60 lives, raising questions about recurring safety oversights.
As families mourn and rescuers search, the community demands answers to prevent another such loss.
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